InterMedia Insights 5.23.2016

Hot Media Trends for May 23, 2016

Digital video players and networks have been engaged in a war of words and stats to bolster their contention that viewers are either abandoning broadcast for digital video on sites like Facebook/YouTube—or they’re not. A new ABC study, which analyzed marketing spend and ROI over three years, makes the strongest case yet to advertisers and buyers and their budgets—that digital can’t match the long-term ROI benefits of advertising on linear TV and its related platforms. The network commissioned the study from Accenture Strategy to look at the impact of video advertising on multiplatform TV (defined as television-type programming and long-form digital video, viewed live or over multiple platforms) versus digital (which includes paid search, digital display and short-form video under 10 minutes). Accenture drew from its database of $12 billion in marketing spend over a three-year period, which includes six categories and more than 20 major national brands. It looked at how that spend affected metrics like sales and brand health. While average ROI for both multiplatform TV and digital categories are similar at initial spend levels, returns for digital diminish quickly as spend increases, according to the study. In the brands studied by Accenture, anything more than a 4% reallocation from multiplatform TV to digital spend risks eroding ROI and brand sales over time. (Read More on ADWEEK)

Viacom announced a first-of-its-kind deal with American Express, that will integrate actual consumer purchasing data into a “predictive” targeting engine advertisers and agencies can use to reach the audiences they want. Dubbed “Vantage Intent, Powered by AmEx,” the new platform will combine American Express’ customer data with Viacom’s Vantage system to target people on Viacom’s TV and digital properties based on the products they purchased. Viacom described the new platform as “an advanced analytical model” leveraging “the vast majority of the $1 trillion in transactions on its closed-loop network, which have been aggregated and anonymized.” (Read More on MediaPost)

After several weeks of status quo among the nation’s top radio advertisers, budgets saw some significant boosts for the week of May 9-16. In the battle for market share among wireless carriers, Sprint decided to make some noise—catapulting from No. 79 last week all the way to No. 8, with 22,900 spots. Its closest competitor in the space was T-Mobile at No. 12 with 15,015 spots, followed by Cricket at No. 28, AT&T at No. 30 and MetroPCS at No. 32. (Read More on InsideRadio)

With the number of people using ad-blocking software rising fast, the cost of ad-blocking to publishers is also set to jump: according to a new forecast from analytics outfit Optimal, the approximate losses in digital ad revenue will jump from $3.8 billion this year to over $12 billion by 2020. That equals a fifth of projected digital ad revenues of $50 billion in the latter year, leaving publishers and media companies with $38 billion. Optimal expects the number of U.S. Web users with ad blocking software to more than double, from 43 million this year to over 100 million four years from now. (Read more on MediaPost)

Radio looks to mine a larger share of what’s expected to be record-setting election advertising dollars this year, new Nielsen Voter Ratings data shows how to position specific formats as audience hotbeds for each political party. Urban is tops with Democratic voters, news/talk rules with Republicans and oldies is the place for swing/independent voters. Urban radio ratings rank 35% higher among Democratic voters than the overall urban format rating. Urban is one of four formats that over-indexes among Democratic voters: Next is news/talk, which indexes at 118, meaning N/T listening is 18% higher among Democratic voters followed by oldies (108); and religious (108). News/talk is the go-to format for delivering Republican voters—news/talk ratings are 41% higher among Republicans. Sports is close behind, indexing at 132, followed by county (113), and AC and rock (106). (Read more on Inside Radio)

Amazon has unveiled Amazon Video Direct (AVD), a YouTube competitor that will give publishers and advertisers another channel to show their wares. Analysts say AVD isn’t for the causal amateur and can be shown free with ads, packaged as a subscription, or offered to rent or own outright. Launch partners include Conde Nast Entertainment, HowStuffWorks, Samuel Goldwyn Films, The Guardian, Mashable, Mattel, StyleHaul, Kin Community, Jash, Business Insider, Machinima, TYT Network, Baby Einstein, CJ Entertainment America, Xive TV, Synergetic Distribution, Kino Nation, Journeyman Pictures, and Pro Guitar Lessons. Amazon says AVD will become a part of the prime video package subscribers have already paid for, or available as an add-on subscription service. Or viewers can receive it for free via Amazon, but with advertising. (Read more on Response Magazine)

Time Warner Cable, which had the worst customer-service score in any industry according to a 2015 survey, won’t survive Charter Communications Inc.’s acquisition. Charter will close its $55.1 billion purchase of Time Warner Cable Inc. Wednesday, about a year after it announced the deal and more than two years after it put the New York-based cable provider in play with a hostile takeover offer. Charter has decided to phase out the Time Warner Cable name over time, according to Alex Dudley, a company spokesman. Included in the rebranding effort is Bright House Networks LLC, the cable provider Charter bought in conjunction with Time Warner Cable last year for $10.4 billion. With the Time Warner Cable and Bright House acquisitions, Charter is taking the mantle of the country’s second-largest cable operator, behind Comcast Corp. The company will absorb about 16 million Time Warner Cable subscribers in markets including New York City, Los Angeles and Dallas, and about 2.5 million Bright House customers in states like Florida, Alabama and Indiana. (Read More on AdAge)